The Wayland High School Field house was in significant need of an upgrade. The bleachers no longer opened and closed easily. The basketball court wood floor no longer provided appropriate bounce. The layout did not provide for flexibility for multiple athletic uses or for town meeting. Supporters of the WHS athletic programs did not want to wait for the uncertain re-instatement of the suspended Massachusetts funding process for public school construction so they hired MHA to study what could be done to upgrade the field house using private funding. MHA prepared floor plans for a field house renovation and created a fund raising package that the client sent out to potential donors. This aided the client in raising $600,000 for this private project within a public school. While fundraising was completed MHA prepared construction documents and bid the project to three private construction companies.

The new design restores the field house to its original 28,000 square foot open room design, allowing for ultimate flexibility. Now the field house may be used for larger indoor field play such as lacrosse, varsity and junior varsity basketball on regulation courts, or up to three community basketball games in a cross-court manner. It also is now large enough for town meeting use in a single venue; previously town meeting was divided into two separate venues, requiring the rental of an additional sound system for the overflow space.

The scope included demolition of the field house floor and bleachers as well as new construction of a concrete slab on grade with a multi-purpose high shock-absorption athletic floor and new bleachers. The new floor provides excellent shock-absorption similar to a competition wood floor, while allowing the set up of chairs and tables for concerts and all-school meetings without damaging the floor. New basketball backstops are hung from the domed ceiling, freeing up floor space when other activities occur. Our structural engineers at Simpson Gumpertz & Heger provided sophisticated three-dimensional structural modeling for the backstops. The banked indoor track at the indoor perimeter of the entire room was also resurfaced and re-lined.

Doug Sacra met with all the key users and caretakers of the facility to prepare a single coordinated vision that brought together the needs and concerns of the Board of Selectmen, the School Committee, the Athletic Director and all key high school sports coaches, community basketball, Orchestra & Band Directors, facilities and custodial staff, as well as major donors. This coordination between all key stakeholders was the first essential step in this very successful project to benefit the entire community.